Reuters – December 20, 2007
An infamous letter written by Princess Diana in which she warned that her ex-husband Prince Charles was planning to kill her has been published for the first time.
In the letter, written to her butler Paul Burrell 10 months before her death in a Paris car crash in 1997, Diana said: "This particular phase in my life is the most dangerous – my husband is planning an accident in my car".
Details of the letter first emerged in 2004 but have only been made public now at the inquest into the deaths of Diana and her lover Dodi al-Fayed, who was also killed in the crash.
It can be seen on www.scottbaker-inquests.gov.uk/evidence/docs/INQ0010117.pdf
Dodi's father Mohamed al-Fayed, owner of Harrods, says Diana and his son were killed by British security services on the orders of Prince Philip, Charles' father.
Fayed alleges the killing was ordered because the royal family did not want the mother of the future king having a child with his son. He says Diana's body was embalmed to cover up evidence she was expecting a baby.
Diana's note to Burrell is seen by conspiracy theorists as evidence that her death was not an accident as the authorities have ruled.
Major investigations by British and French police have both concluded that the couple died because their chauffeur Henri Paul was drunk and driving too fast.
In the letter, Diana writes that the alleged murder plot would involve "brake failure and serious head injury".
This would allow Charles to marry Tiggy Legge-Bourke, the former nanny of couple's sons Princes William and Harry, the note continued, adding "Camilla is nothing but a decoy."
In fact, Charles married his long-term lover Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005.
Earlier this week, the inquest heard from Diana's close confidante Lucia Flecha de Lima, wife to the then Brazilian ambassador in London, who rejected suggestions the princess feared Charles was planning a car accident.
"I still don't believe she was fearing for her life, especially from Prince Charles, the future king of your country" she said.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL2067721720071220?sp=true
Last updated 22/12/2007
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